By Loraine Gostling.
I ponder a lot. I waste time on musings and wonderings about stuff and try to look at things from different points of view and this is why I would never have made a good politician!
As I have now been shoved quite harshly into the age where I can get a UK bus pass and I am rapidly ascending to the top of the list for a vaccination! I think about the fact that I have passed the birthday that was the subject of a Beatles famous song and wonder how the hell I had suddenly clocked up so much mileage!
This thought first hit me when I was referred to as an old crone by a charming chap on the Javea Connect group . It hit me like a tiny brick! So I looked at myself at that point and thought firstly, well that was bloody rude…. but a random ponder was definitely needed now.
Obviously I can’t speak for others on this whole ageing malarky, but one thing I can say is, that personally, I actually feel no different at all than when I was singing along to T-Rex’s Ride a White Swan, smoking one of the cigarettes I had craftily stolen from my dad earlier, whilst sitting with the rest of my adolescent spotty mates in the barn.. yes a huge room full of straw and hay…. at the stables in Chingford ( H&S inspections way back then were just a quick check over your horse and saddle!).
I subsequently pondered…. what then has changed in almost 50 years? Well OK, if I have to be honest, I admit that the anatomical stuff isn’t quite what is was on my first £20 teletext, last minute girly getaway to Salou in the early 70s. The whole pertness has gone skew-whiff, 3 beautiful kids lovingly restructured the whole physique just a bit, the size of the under-eye luggage is now questioned frequently by Ryanair, I do have occasion to have to re-enter a room before I can recall what I went on there for and the only “abs” I know now is Acute Bitching Syndrome. But apart from that……………..
So then I nod and agree with myself that the exterior coating has changed but nothing else has. I think the same way I have always done, I still do most of the things I have always enjoyed doing and despite the fact that I have never been a great fan of pursuing pastimes such as tennis or jogging, preferring more the less strenuous games, such as Cards Against Humanity and Trivial Pursuit, I have still not had to see doctor since 1994!
Now board games are, admittedly, not so good for keeping the leg muscles firm but as far as the facial muscles go, a night around the table with your best mates, some nibbles and a few drinks works wonders for stimulating those endorphins!
Since arriving in Javea in 2007, my body, my life and my personality have all changed but mostly for the better. Seven years running a bar with my family took its toll physically I suppose, but despite the long unsociable hours and little financial reward, there were so many moments which sent us all into fits of the giggles, sometimes  for hours….. moments that will never be forgotten and these made it all worthwhile. When I arrived in Spain I had never used a microphone, sang, danced or acted but the Costa Blanca life has changed all that. I achieved more in ten years here than in 50 years back in Brexitland….I mean the UK. Â
So the moral of the story is, I suppose, never give in to thinking you are getting too old to do something new… try new stuff.. make new friends…. what is the worst that can happen?
At the end of the day, there are many profound saying about getting old(er). Lots of them trying to make us feel better about ourselves, like “Age is Just a Number” etc . Well yes, I suppose it is but if you are worried about that number getting bigger each year, then those little endorphins waiting at the starting block will just sit there twiddling their tiny endothumbs waiting for some fun!
Don’t go sit in God’s Waiting Room people….. release that little devil we all have inside….dye your hair bright pink…. break that routine…..go skydiving (eek) or … if you really feel like throwing caution to the wind….. book a slot at the next available karaoke night. (After so many months of the curtailing of all things “fun”during the covid era, I even started to miss that too. 😉 .
Still good times to come then?… 🙂 🙂
